Pakistan cool their heels as equipment goes missing

Osman spent the first half of his life pretending he discovered reverse swing with a tennis ball half-covered with electrical tape. The second half of his life was spent trying, and failing, to find spiritual fulfillment in the world of Pakistani advertising and marketing. The third half of his life will be devoted to convincing people that he did discover reverse swing. And occasionally writing about cricket. And learning mathematics.

Pakistan's preparations for the final ODI against South Africa at Johannesburg have been hampered by the disappearance of key analytical equipment en route from Cape Town.

Medical and video analysis material went missing after the fourth match at Newlands, in which Pakistan were crushed by ten wickets to trail 2-1 in the series. "Two cricket coffins with computers, a TV monitor, a video recorder, a DVD player and various other pieces of equipment have disappeared," Bob Woolmer told Cricinfo.

"The physiotherapist's ultra-sound equipment along with other medical supplies have also disappeared," Woolmer added. "We have no idea what has happened. We can claim it all on insurance but that's not the point. The bags and equipment were all checked in when we left Cape Town and we have the relevant baggage tags for it. We all saw the bags being checked in so they must have disappeared somewhere during the journey, or on arrival. It's valuable equipment too, worth somewhere between US$15,000-20,000.

"I hate to think 'typical Johannesburg airport' but there is a bit of history. We're still hoping the stuff will turn up but time is running out and we need the equipment to have any hope of being prepared," Woolmer said.